The invention relates to a method of folding an airbag for a vehicle occupant restraint system to form an airbag package. Furthermore, the invention relates to a pressing device for forming airbag packages as well as to an airbag package for mounting in a vehicle occupant restraint system comprising a rolled airbag.
Airbags are used for the protection of vehicle occupants in various forms within the vehicle, for example as a driver airbag within the steering wheel, as a passenger airbag or knee airbag within an instrument panel or as a side airbag provided in the area of the backrests or the doors or as a curtain-type airbag in the area of the roof rail from where it will deploy between the vehicle occupants and the sidewall of the vehicle.
In order to accommodate airbags in a space-saving manner, e.g. behind an interior lining of a vehicle, they are folded prior to being mounted in the vehicle. Upon activating the vehicle occupant restraint system, gas flows into the airbag, thus causing the latter to automatically deploy.
A common way of folding which is employed especially with large-area side airbags consists in rolling the airbag from its lower edge to its upper edge (both being related to the mounting state and the inflated state). It is also possible to combine rolling and folding when folding the airbag and, for example, to first fold a portion of the airbag and then roll the same together with the remaining airbag or to only fold a portion of the airbag without rolling the same.
Such rolled and/or folded airbag takes a rather round cross-sectional shape, which requires an airbag housing having an appropriate mounting depth. In order to be able to position the airbag package also in areas having a small mounting depth between the car body and the interior lining, flatter airbag packages are desired. Mere folding of the airbag in the desired size requires additional fixation of the folded airbag, however, so as to prevent the airbag package from deploying or losing its shape already during mounting, thus impeding insertion into a housing.